2.5 weeks left until Spudman

Today I swam 3/4 of a mile in the Provo pool during lunch. Only 2.5 weeks left to the Spudman.

First bike wreck

Today I had my first official bike wreck on my road bike. I feel dumb as it shouldn't have happened, but it did. I left my house about 6:15am this morning and planned on riding up the canyon a ways. As I was leaving the neighborhood, I came to a stop sign. I slowed down to almost a stop and turned sideways a little bit. Just then a large gust of wind hit me and I didn't have time to react and get my feet out of my pedals. There I was, laying on my left side in a little pain from the fall but more embarrassed than anything. You would think at 6:15am there wouldn't be anyone around to witness this, but there was a car that drove by right as I fell.

I know the story sounds a little far fetched, but it happened. Every morning in Spanish Fork we have huge winds. I never thought they would be hard enough to cause me to fall over on my bike, but they did. I'm sure the wind gusts are at least 15 mph, if not more each morning.

Other than having a bad start to a bike ride, I had an enjoyable ride. I set off planning on riding about 15 miles, however I end up riding 25 miles. I went to Salem, UT and around Spanish Fork. I was wearing sleeves and pants as I left, but quickly had to remove the long sleeves about halfway through my ride as I was in Salem (with no wind) and the sun had finally made it over the mountains.

It felt good to get out early and ride in the morning.

A new leaf

Yesterday I decided I'd turn over a new leaf and start being a little more honest with myself. So I decided that I will wake up at 5:30am each morning and a few things.

1. Read the scriptures
2. Exercise (bike Tuesday and Thursday in the am)
3. Swim Monday, Wed and Friday.

Monday, Wed and Friday I'm going to work out in the yard or do some house work from 6am until 7am.

4th of July

I didn't have to work today. In the past, I've always worked the 4th of July. It's always nice to have extra money, but I decided I wasn't going to work this year. Instead of working, as a family we went to the Provo Parade down University Ave in Provo. Unless you sleep out the night before, you aren't getting a front row seat (with shade) to the Parade.

We showed up about 10 minutes before the parade and were able to find a great place to watch the parade in full sun.

The kids liked the parade. I enjoyed the fly over by the Air Force. There were 4 jets then a huge bomber plane. We left before the parade was over, but we were able to see quite a bit

Here is a pic of Ryan at the parade.

Here is a pic of Sydney at the parade.

After the parade we went home and got ready for the rest of the day. As a family (Berger's) we were all meeting at my parents house for dinner. We went over about 3:30pm and dropped the kids off and took a 25 mile bike ride. We left from my parents house and road up Hobblecreek Canyon about 12.5 miles, then turned around and came home. You would think the downhill ride would be fast and enjoyable, however the wind was blowing up the canyon and it was 100 degrees outside, so wasn't quite as fun or fast as I would have liked it to be.

On the way down a car came up beside Deni and the sideview mirror brushed Deni's arm. I think I would have kicked the car, if I could have thought that fast, but it wasn't me, it was Deni. The ride was good but the way too hot to be riding.

We ate as a family at Mom and Dad's then visited and the kids played with their cousins. We taught the adults a card game called No Peeky. It was fun to visit and play. After it got dark we went to a local school to light fireworks and sparklers for the kids.

Syd and her sparkler.

Ryan and his sparkler.

Ryan's Loose Tooth

Last night we stayed at the Hyatt in downtown Albuquerque, NM. The hotel was really nice, however it was in a "creepy" part of town (as Deni said).

We started on the second and last leg of our trip home to Utah.

We stopped in Moab, Ut for dinner and spent about an hour walking around looking at the various shops to help break up the drive.

After dinner, Ryan mentioned his tooth was loose and that it was ready to come out. Here are a few little videos of me trying to help him get it out as we drove home. I love this first little video, but don't miss the first 2 seconds.



Again, Ryan telling me it's okay to help him with his tooth but he changes his mind once I started videoing it.



Finally Ryan let me give it one good push. After I pushed it, it was barely hanging on.



I took a picture of Ryan's mouth to show him the tooth was barely holding on and Ryan pulled it out after seeing the picture.

We got home to Spanish Fork about 9:30pm. It had been a long day and it was good to finally be home.

Heading home

We left Gilmer, Tx around 6:15am (Texas time) and started the long drive home. We had hoped the kids would go back to sleep, but only Ryan slept after getting the kids into the van. We had a 12-14 hr drive ahead of us on our way back to Albuquerque, NM.

Nothing exciting on the drive.

We stopped in Albuquerque, NM for the night. Deni's uncle, aunt and Grandmother also stopped in Albuquerque, NM so we met up for dinner to visit with them. They only had a 5 hr drive until they got home, we on the other hand have at least 11 more hours in the car tomorrow.

Bishopric - "Bishop Rick"

Today was Fast Sunday. We visited one of the LDS wards in Gilmer, TX.

During the beginning of church the Bishop said something about the Bishopric. Ryan leaned over to me and said:

"Dad, that is cool, the Bishop has the same name as the our Bishop in Springville, Bishop Rick".

I laughed and wrote it down and handed it to Deni. We both got a chuckle out of that.

After church we got changed and went to meet Deni's Biological Aunt's. Deni's biological father, has 2 sisters. Jennette and Alisha Foote. Deni met them for the first time a few months ago when she went back to Texas for her Biological Grandmother's (Nelda) funeral. We had a good visit with them. This was the first time they had met myself, Ryan and Sydney. We had dinner, looked through old pictures and had a good time getting to know each other.

Bowers Family Reunion

We got to Gilmer, Tx last nigth about 10pm. We are staying at Deni's aunt's house, Denise Craig. Uncle Larry and Aunt Denise were nice enough to let us stay at their house for the next few days.

We were up and out the door by 7:45am for a flag raising at Grandpa Bowers gravesite. We got to the cemetery about 8am. Uncle Stanley had a little program that told a short story or facts out of Deni's family genealogy. We raised the Texas and United States flag at the cemetery.

Here is a picture of Ryan and Sydney at Grandpa Bowers grave.

After the flag raising, we went to Uncle Stanley's for breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent visiting with extended family. The kids played in a little blow up pool.

We had dinner about 6pm. Right after dinner a large thunderstorm came through which made us run to get everything taken down before they blew away.

After the rain stopped, one of Deni's cousins started playing the game of Fireball. The game consists of a ball of twine/small rope that is soaked in kerosene then lit on fire. Once the ball is on fire, it is thrown around a circle, much like hot potato. Obviously you can't hold on to it so as soon as you catch it, you have to throw it again. We got some laughs out of watching them throw a fireball back and forth. I wish I would have gotten some video or photos of it, as it was quite the site.

Sydney can swim

Today was our last day at Shane's house. We packed up all of our things and got them in the van.

Today was the great day. For the past few days, I've been watching the rain poor out of Shane's rain gutters, but not at the spouts, they would fill up and then run over the side. So Shane and I got the ladder out and started looking at the gutters to see what the problem was. In at least 2 of his down spouts, he had a ball blocking the down spout. The rest were full of dirt. He even had a few 8 inch tree's growing in some of the spouts because the were so full of dirt. We got them all cleaned out, so that the water should come down all the spouts correctly now.

The sun was out all morning so we all went swimming in Shane's pool. (Even got Shane in there this time.) Sydney can actually swim now. In the past, she has been jumping into the swimming pool and kicking to the top of the water, then I would grab her and help her back to the side of the pool. However today she started jumping in, kicking to the top, then doggy paddling back to the side of the pool. At age 3, Sydney can swim. Who would have thought that Sydney would swim before her older brother?

Not only can she swim, but she can float on her back pretty well too.

Sydney has no fear. She saw Uncle Shane jump from his rock wall and she wanted to do the same.




The kids loved Shane's pool. Sydney relaxing on vacation.

Ryan relaxing and making the most of his last day at Uncle Shane's.

After our afternoon swim, we decided to go out to a movie. We saw Ratatouille. It was a good movie, but quite long. After the movie, as we drove home, the rain came again. I was amazed at how hard it was raining. I was glad to see Shane's rain gutters finally working as they should. We ate dinner at Shane's and then headed on another long drive (about 160 miles) to Gilmer, TX. We will be staying in Gilmer, TX for the next few days for the Bowers Family Reunion.

Brett, Ryan, Deni, Sydney and Shane right before we left Shane's.

Tour de Dallas

We started out the day by visiting Shane's office. It has been 8 years since we have been to Denton. Shane's office looked completely different. It is very nice, he has made many improvements in the last 8 years.

Here is Sydney outside of Shane's office.

Because it has been raining so much, we decided that we should do something indoors. Shane took us to Dallas World Aquarium. (DWA) DWA is much more than an Aquarium, there were birds, snakes, frogs, bats, turtles, Crocodile, flamingo, otter, sharks, fish, stingrays, etc.

Here is Deni, Sydney, Shane, Ryan and Ron.

The DWA was a like a little Rain Forest. Behind us was a cool waterfall.

Sydney and I are looking at the flamingos.

Finally there was a 30 foot underground walkway that allowed you to see the stingrays and sharks swim over you. Shane took this picture from above looking down through the water and into the glass walkway.

We had a great time in Dallas as the Dallas World Aquarium. After the DWA, we went to a bike store looking for a "Texas" bike shirt. I found one that I liked, so I picked it up.